


At Sunrise on the Forest Moon

by victoria_p (musesfool)



Series: tumblr prompt fic [18]
Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-05 00:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17314295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesfool/pseuds/victoria_p
Summary: She finds her way to Luke's side at the site of Vader's pyre, after the flames have died down to embers.





	At Sunrise on the Forest Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [outruntheavalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/gifts).



> Written for outruntheavalanche, who asked for Anything about Ahsoka! Perhaps... What do you think she was up to during ROTJ? Originally posted [**here**](https://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/1076768.html).

She finds her way to Luke's side at the site of Vader's pyre, after the flames have died down to embers. Luke is sitting there as the sun rises, still a little drunk from the celebration the night before. He needs medical attention, but he can't quite bring himself to leave—he's waiting for _something_ , though he doesn't know quite _what_ —and he realizes what it is when the tall Togruta woman picks her way through the brambles to sit beside him. He thinks he recognizes her—she may have attended some of the high level command meetings Leia attends so Luke doesn't have to—but he doesn't know her name. It won't matter much, he knows, because anyone who spends any time with the Rebellion knows who he is. It's not conceit. It's not even that he's calling himself a Jedi now—after meeting Han, he's less surprised than he used to be at how many people don't believe in the Jedi, or don't think well of them if they do believe; the Alliance is full of former Separatists, and they only grudgingly play nice with him, mostly because he blew up the Death Star, and everybody knows that was a one in a million shot.

He used to feel bad that everyone knew his name and he didn't know anybody's, but he's gotten over it. He learns people's names when he can, and hopes he doesn't have to add them to the list of names he carries, the names of the dead, whom the pilots toast when they do shots in whatever backwater cantina they find themselves after each mission.

He blinks. He's definitely still drunk and feeling maudlin despite their victory and the raucous, night-long celebration. 

"It's okay to mourn him," she says, breaking the silence and bumping his shoulder companionably. 

Luke snorts softly in disbelief. "You're the only one who thinks so."

"I'm one of the only ones left who knew him before," she responds, mouth curving in a wry smile.

Luke whips his head around to look at her. "You _knew_ him?"

"He was my master."

Luke freezes, turning the word over in his mind, and all the different things it could mean. The Force hums between them, but not with danger.

"When he was a Jedi," she continues. "So don't freak out." She takes a lightsaber off her belt and offers it to him. She has two, which is interesting.

It's more finely crafted than his, more polished in design, but it looks like it's been through the war. It shines bright white when he lights it, and thrums powerfully in the quiet of the early morning air. 

Luke turns it off and hands it back, trying not to be angry. "All this time, I was looking for a teacher, and you were _here_?"

"No." She shakes her head. "I was—It doesn't matter where I was. I was never meant to teach you. Your sister, maybe—"

"How do you know that?" Luke demands, shocked. Nobody knows that, nobody living, anyway, except him and Leia and Han. 

"I was an old friend of Bail Organa's," she says. "I worked for him for a long time. Leia can confirm that." She points to the lightsaber at his belt. "I knew Obi-Wan, too. He was as much my master as your father. I can see his influence on you."

He tucks that away to examine later; he's still coming to terms with the things Ben did and didn't tell him, and here's another one. "And how come I've never heard of you?"

She laughs, but there's an edge to it, and she doesn't hold his gaze—her eyes are bright with unshed tears. "I left. Your father," she clarifies when he gives her a confused look. "Left the Jedi. Left the Rebellion too, for a while, though I made it back in the end." She tilts her chin at the smoldering remains. "We both did." Her smile is sad but proud, too. 

"Last time I saw him, I said I'd never leave him again, and he tried to kill me. I couldn't—I reached him for a moment, but it wasn't enough. But you—" She shakes her head. "He always did the impossible for the people he loved."

It warms him to hear someone else speak well of his father. Ben had stopped telling him happy stories once he'd learned the truth, and he wonders sometimes if any of it was true.

"Ben—Obi-Wan, I mean—used to tell me stories about him."

"Oh, I bet. They were something to see during the war. I know a few, too." She bumps his shoulder again. "Me and Rex."

"Rex? The old guy in the Pathfinders?"

"Yeah. He was Anakin's clone commander. He taught me a lot when I was a padawan. We should go find him, see what kind of breakfast is available." She stands and slaps the dust off her pants.

"You still haven't told me your name."

"Haven't I?" She laughs again, sweet this time. "Ahsoka. Ahsoka Tano." She holds out a hand and he takes it, letting her pull him to his feet. He sways slightly, and she tightens her grip. "Come on, Skyguy. Let's go."

He lets her lead him back to the Ewok village where everyone else is sleeping, the orgy of celebration finally wound down, and the fires banked. Out of the corner of his eye, he swears he sees a glimmer of blue and he feels a sense of deep satisfaction, but when he turns his head, there's no one there. 

end


End file.
